The Way We Were
by Friendscrazygirl
Summary: What if Rachel had chosen to stay in the plane and moved to Paris?5 years later, they believe they've moved on but just remember that with the lobsters, it's never off the table...
1. Chapter 1

Hey you guys, this story is set 5 years after The Last One, Rachel didn't get off the plane and she moved to Paris, now, 5 years later, Ross had tried to move on and he's married(Its Ross right?).This chapter is focused on him , next one will be focused on her Thank you for reading. Enjoy!

Ross woke up and looked at the woman next to him, Sarah, her wife was still lying on the other side of the bed, after 3 years since Rachel left to Paris, he felt like he **had** to move on from her, he asked Joey to set him up with someone, this lovely girl named Sarah, she was pretty and kind, he proposed after 4 months of dating. It's Ross, once again he was afraid of losing her as it happened with Rach so he popped the question.

Rachel was in another continent, he hadn't heard of her in so long, she kept in touch with Monica, Phoebe, Joey and Chandler, but their calls became less often as time passed by, she hadn't come back to the US, not even once in the last 5 years. He saw Emma every time she came with Rachel's mom to the States to spend vacation in Long Island. He kept hoping she would come back _someday,_ but he knew he wasn't getting any younger, he **had **to **try **to forget her, he **tried **and found Sarah, he thought it was better this way, pretending to have forgotten Rachel was hard at the beginning, but he got used to it.

He loved Sarah for sure, but did he love her as much as he loved Rachel? It was hard to love someone as he loved Rachel, it was hard to find someone that would worth all that…

Sarah opened her green eyes, without noticing Ross was already wake, she sat up and sighed. Ross didn't move, he was fine with her not noticing he was awake, it was not like he wanted to spend the morning cuddling and kissing her as it used to be with _her._

As Sarah soon left the bedroom still without noticing him, something popped into his mind._ Rachel._ Sometimes that happened, he'd caught himself thinking about _her_. It was Sunday, so he would have a lot of time to _waste _thinking about his (_former_) lobster, Sarah would probably be out with her friends, shopping or doing girly stuff, actually he didn't mind what she was going to do, he had other things to care about.

He finally left his bed and entered the kitchen to have breakfast, as he reached the table, he found out Sarah was still in the house, their eyes connected for a second.

"Oh you're up"

"Hmn yep…How was your night?" He asked not knowing what else to say

"It was ok, look I gotta be hurry, I'm meeting Ellie in 20 minutes"

"Oh alright, have a good day"

"Thanks you too"

Almost all their dialogues were like that, a few words, nothing else. Once again he started thinking about Rachel.

'That's enough, I can't keep thinking about her if I want to get over her, she's happy in Paris, with some French guy, the best job in the world and in the most fashionable city worldwide. She's fine and you'll be fine without her' he told himself. He had to do something or he would be down and thinking about her all day, he had to do something, anything…

He turned the car on, and decided to just drive around, doing nothing, enjoying the car ride. He turned to radio on, maybe a song would make him better, for his surprise…

"Memories,  
Light the corners of my mind  
Misty water-colored memories  
Of the way we were"

He remembered she once said that song was the most romantic song she's ever heard. He cried so hard as he heard the lyrics…

"Scattered pictures,  
Of the smiles we left behind

Smiles we gave to one another

For the way we were"

He reminded how shiny he was when she came around and how dumb he was for letting her go. He mentally slap himself on the face, but then reminded that he'd done everything he could, he told her about his feelings but she **chose **to go to Paris, he reminded that night, probably one of the most painful nights he'd ever had.

"Can it be that it was all so simple then  
Or has time rewritten every line  
If we had the chance to do it all again,  
Tell me, would we? Could we?"

"Could we?" he said loudly, no one could hear him anyway

"Memories may be beautiful and yet  
what's too painful to remember  
we simply choose to forget  
so it's the laughter we will remember  
whenever we remember the way we were

The way we were"

Note: This chapter, I focused on Ross' life, next one will be about how Rachel is doing 5 years later, I'll try to upload soon…This is my first fanfic published and English is not my main language, so please be nice, review please? Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I'm here to pick Emma Green up, please, where's she? I received a call saying she's not ok, where's she? I need to see her, is she ok?" Rachel asked with concern to the school secretary, the fancy private French school called saying Emma was sick, they were afraid she would infect other students, so Rachel left her work and went straight to the school.

"Don't worry Ms Green, she's fine, but she needs to go home now" The woman answered with that French accent Rachel always hated, she was sick of people saying "Raquel Grrrren", it made her remind Paolo, her ex-Italian-boyfriend.

"Alright so where's she?!"

"She's already coming! Look, there she is!"

Rach smiled at 7 years old little Emma in that fancy uniform who ran to her mom's arms.

"Let's go home honey, maybe we could go shopping later if you get better." She said to Emma and then turned to the secretary "Thank you, I gotta go now!'

They left the school, holding hands.

"Let's go shopping!" Little Emma said, she was already a shopaholic as her mum.

"We can't sweetie, you've got a fever, we can do that later ok? IF you get better."

Emma nodded, a little upset but hoping they could go shopping later that day.

"What about now? Can we go shopping now?" The little girl kept saying every 10 minutes, Rachel loved to have a shopping partner, she loved to see her daughter smiling when they reached the mall and she hated to say no to Emma, it hurts, but she **had **to, Emma was sick, they couldn't go shopping…

"I'm sorry sweetie, but you're not ok to go there now, besides, I gotta work…"

"I'm 'find' mom" Her girl brought to her mind the day Monica got sick and couldn't say 'fine' correctly, she chuckled

"Honey, when you put a 'D' at the end of 'fine', you are not 'fine'" this sentence brought so many memories from her New York City years, it brought tears to her eyes.

"Why you crying mommy?"

"I'm not crying" Rachel said, but she couldn't hide it anymore, she missed those happy memories, she missed the gang so much, she hadn't heard from Monica in almost a year, Ross…Oh God…He was the one she missed the most, they'd lost touch after she left, part because she knew if she heard his voice again, it would brought her so many feelings, she preferred to pretend to have forgotten him, in the past 5 years she hadn't been to the US, partly because she was afraid of seeing him again, partly because she was afraid of falling in love with him again and lose all the efforts she had made to forget him in the past 5 years.

"Yes you are, there's tears rolling down your face, why mom? Why you crying?" She could see Ross through her girl's eyes, she spoke like him, she was smart like him, and as her father the simple sight of their daughter could make Rachel smile.

She suddenly had the feeling she needed to hear their voices, not only Ross', no only Monica's but all the gang, she looked at her wrist watched, she figured it must be 8 o'clock am in New York, if she calls, they might not even be home. She decided to take a shot, partly hoping they would not pick up the phone, she called Monica and Chandler's.

"Hello, Monica and Chandler's. I'm Phoebe, how can I help you?" Rachel nodded with Phoebe's cliché.

"Hi" She said simply, it was Phoebe, Phoebe would recognize her voice of course.

"Hi, who am I talking to?" Rachel's heart broke when Phoebe didn't recognize her voice through her 'hi'.

"Pheebs, you know who I am" Rachel said hoping she would recognize her voice this time.

There was silence. Rachel held her breath 'Please say you know who I am'

"Rach" she heard slowly and in a low tone through the phone.

"Let me talk to her!" Rachel was able to hear Monica's voice in the background, knowing Phoebe had recognized her voice and that Monica wanted to talk to her brought her relief, peace, she smiled, hoping her smile could cross the Atlantic.

"Hi honey!" She heard Mon's sweet voice, which filled her with happiness.

"Hey honey! How've you been?"

"Alright, everybody is missing you so much!"

"Oh Mon, you have no idea how much I miss you guys! Everything, from the big things…You know…To the small things, I even miss Gunther! By the way how's Chandler and the twins?"

"Oh Gunther…The hair brighter than the sun! They've been alright, what about Emma?"

"She's 'find'…"Rachel said looking up to her beautiful daughter, who was still looking at her on the phone with attention.

"She's find? What do you mean?"

"Oh Mon, nevermind..."

They kept talking for like an hour, Rachel swore they wouldn't, never lose contact, then Rachel chatted with Phoebe, Chandler and Joey, she was so happy their friendship was still alive! After talking to Joe, she asked for Monica…

"Hi you again"

"Hey Rach, what happened?"

"Listen Mon, there's something I want to ask you about…"

"Anything Rach, I'm so glad you finally called!"

"Hmnnn…."

"Rachel?"

"Nevermind, forget it…"

"What Rachel? Now you're gonna have to tell me."

"Alright…Is…Your brother…there?

"Why? What do you want to talk to him about?"

"Nothing Mon…Only…"She took a moment to think about something else to say, she couldn't say she'd spent the whole day thinking about _him_. Could she? "…Some Emma stuff" she finally thought it would be acceptable, but Monica knew Rachel too well to say what she was thinking even across the ocean, but thankfully Rachel knew she would keep it to herself without questioning

"He's not sweetie, I'll tell him to call you, he's at the museum. He has been always there lately."

"Alright, I gotta go now Mon…"

"Ok, but first, can I talk to my niece?"

"Oh sure!"

Rachel gave the phone to Emma.

"Sweetie, Aunt Monica is on the phone she wants to talk to you!"

**N/A:** Hey everybody, please leave me a review, I'll upload the 3rd chapter soon, suggestions? Reviews and suggestions are really appreciated! Thank y'all for reading, I hope you are enjoying


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**N/A: First of all I'd like to thank all the reviews! They were all really appreciated!And so were your suggestions, really helpful, thank you all for everything guys you are the best!I'm sorry about the delay to update….**

**#**

"Hi" Ross entered Monica and Chandler's living room, saying the old and typical 'Ross Hi'. He'd talked like that for the past 5 years, since he last heard _her_ voice.

"Hey sweetie! What's wrong?" Monica welcomed him with a big hug.

"Nothing, I'm fine" He also answered that question like that and Monica knew that. They broke the hug.

"Do you need anything? Some water? Anything?"

"Nothing, I'm fine"

"Ross, I cannot push this to the future anymore, you need to know" she confessed moving to the couch.3 days after the call, she was still afraid of his reaction, but she needed to tell him as soon as possible, 'the sooner the better' she kept telling herself, as Phoebe would say it's like pulling off a band aid right?

"What?" he seemed concerned.

"There's something I need to tell you…" his curiosity got bigger, so did his concern. "She called" fast as pulling off a band aid, as Phoebe would do.

"She..?" He was confused.

"She Ross, _she_ called" When he realized she who, his face suddenly turned into a white color. He moved his hand to his was silence, for a few seconds.

"Wh-what?" he stammered breaking the silence, he was at least reacting better than Monica thought he would.

"She called…" Mon repeated, Ross still looked surprised "3 days ago, she called from Paris, you were not here, she left her new number, it's on the counter…She asked you to call her, she said you need to talk about some Emma stuff I guess…"Mixed emotions could be seen through Ross' expression, surprise, confusion, preoccupation and he hated to admit it but also relief, relief she called, relief she also asked to talk to him…

Both kept their mouths shut for a few minutes, even though they weren't talking, they were communicating, with looks and expressions words weren't needed, they knew exactly how each other was feeling, at least they felt like they did, that was enough

"So…What are you gonna do?" Monica once again broke their silence.

"I-I guess I'll call her…"He stood up and walked towards the kitchen counter when e reached it he turned back to Monica "That's what I'm supposed to do, am I right?"

"I guess so Ross" she said softly "If you want I can call her and talk for you...If you don't feel ready to hear her voice yet…" She knew just how painful it was for him.

"No, Mon, I'll do it…One day I'll have to face it someday, right? So make that today." She felt so proud of her brother, he was finally facing it, even though Ross always claimed to have moved on, Monica deep in her heart knew he hasn't, seeing him facing the fear of hearing her voice again, made her proud.

#

Meanwhile in Paris, Rachel had spent the last 3 days hoping Ross would call her soon. Everytime the phone rang she'd run to pick it up. 'That's ridiculous, I'm over him. I shouldn't be so excited about his call, right?'

The phone rang once again and once again she ran to answer it, 'please be him, I can't take all these waiting anymore'…

"Hello?"

"Hey you…" Her prayers were heard. Just like she remembered, 'Rachel that's ridiculous! You are OVER him!' her head kept saying. So many things in her head, flashbacks, moments, smiles, fights, broken hearts… She didn't answer, she was too overwhelmed about hearing his voice after 5 years…

"Rach?" he broke the silence, bringing her back to reality

"Hey you" she finally answered chuckling

"How's Paris?"

"It's alright…How is New York?" On the last word, her voice failed as if she couldn't say that word anymore

"A little empty in the past 5 years to tell you the truth" He admitted, Rachel chuckled surprised by the confession. He realized what he'd just said, he regretted it… But it was the truth wasn't it?

"Yeah? As we are being honest here…I miss you too…" She said, as Ross, regretting as soon as the words came out of her mouth "…You all…" She corrected it.

They remained on talking until Rachel heard Emma entering the room, she sat on Rachel's lap

"Emma is here…You wanna talk to _our_ daughter?"

"Yes, yes, please"

Rachel landed the phone to her daughter

"Hello?" she said with that childish voice of hers

"Hi sweetie, how are you?"

"Who are you?" Those words broke Ross' heart, couldn't his own daughter recognize his voice through a phone?

Rachel grabbed the phones from Emma's little hands

"I'm sorry, she's a little tired, it's midnight in here…"Oh right, he forgot about the time difference

"Oh that's right, I'm sorry Rachel, did I wake you?"

"Don't worry Ross, I was still awake when you called" She didn't mention this days normally she couldn't sleep easily, she lost sleep thinking about…Well, life and the options she had made. "Well anyway, it's late now, I kind of have to go to bed now…"

"Wait! Rachel there's something I need to talk to you about…"

"Yes?"

"I-I was wondering if you…humnn… you could consider coming home for the Holidays, spend a week or so, everybody misses you both"

"What?" she was a bit confused and surprised with the invitation

"You know, holidays are coming and me…And the gang…" He quickly added "we…humnn…we were thinking about you coming for the Holidays…" He waited for the answer "…If you want to of course…"

"I-I don't know Ross…I'll have to think about it…It's not that easy for me…"

"You take your time, but we'll all be really happy if you can make it"

"I promise Ross, I'll think about it…I'll call you when I have my answer, now it's a bit late, Em is tired, she's adorable even tired, she's got your brown eyes and unfortunately, my original nose"

"Oh Rach, you know how even your old nose is beautiful…" He said chuckling

"If you think so…" She giggled "I really gotta go now, big meeting tomorrow"

"Oh good luck with that!" He joked"Bye Rachel, remember your promise!"

"I will bye Ross…" he was going to hang up… "Wait! Ross?"

"Yeah?"

"Bye you"

"Bye you"


End file.
